Description

According to Dom and Matt initially, the song was going to be a quiet song and sweet with a gradual rise due Rich Costey ideas and that "There was something truly epic present when it was really quiet at the beginning" and then "It was changed just before recording, originally it was just a strange and quiet riff" but then it was reworked with a huge and monstrous chorus riff and end that gives it a really heavy effect.[1]

Live

Standard set closer throughout the Absolution tour and sometimes during the Black Holes and Revelations tour. Usually multiple riffs are played after the song. An example of this is the L.A Staples Centre Gig in which more than eight riffs were played after Stockholm Syndrome.

Etymology

The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to, and even defended, their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term was coined by the criminologist and psychologist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast. The majority of the hostages were okay, but one of them committed suicide and another changed his name to that of one of his captors and disappeared.

Dom explains that: 'Stockholm Syndrome', concerns a medical complaint whereby someone falls in love with the person that has kidnapped them; "In 1973 some bank robbers went to rob a bank and ended up taking six people hostage and it went on Tv, But the hostages ended up defending the captives in cout and one of the hostages got married to one of the captors"[2]

Composition

While this song was written on piano by Matthew Bellamy, it was recorded on both guitar and synths. Matt then mixed both of the sounds together. The main riff was inspired by System of a Down.[3]

Moving at a tempo of 128 beats per minute, the song is driven by a distorted guitar riff based on the D Phrygian dominant scale. The verses settle into a D minor riff, while the chorus marks a lighter turn, driven by piano, arpeggiated synth and harmonised vocals. It ends with a series of power chords, again in D Phrygian dominant.